DemiHawk
by GemKnight
Summary: Xander is given a gift, or rather a short series of gifts, taking him to another world, and giving him new powers, now he has to figure them out, as well as just why he was sent there...
1. The Amala Network and the Avatar

"Sergeant, you got a package."

"From who," Xander walked over to a slayer beside a crate.

She chuckled, "No return address, and it sets off every magic detector we got, but doesn't set of any alarms of ill intent."

"Cute," he joined in her chuckling.

"I'd say you got a secret admirer."

Xander stopped, "Well, is Willow on the way, or one of the local talents, in case this thing blows me up or something."

"I wouldn't make that joke in earshot of Dawnie," Willow chuckled as she walked up.

"Where isn't in earshot of her these days?"

"My school for one, so it seems anyway," Dawn called in from the window. "But its okay, I know he meant blown up bits, not blown up Zentradi like me."

"Any Idea who it might be from," Willow asked with a smirk.

"Not without seeing what it is- god I hope it isn't another slayerette crushing on me- my body can only take so much of that kind of abuse…"

Willow laughed again, then Willow turned towards the crate, "Well we all know one thing at least, whoever sent this is definitely evil."

"What makes you say that?"

"Just look at your track record," Willow chuckled.

Xander groaned, "Fine, so who opens it? Rock-paper-scissors?"

"But you always pick scissors?"

"Maybe I just do that to lull people," he said sounding sly.

"Okay," she shrugged unconvinced. She held out her fist to play, and seconds later she was holding out rock to his scissors. She chuckled and he sighed. Xander cautiously stepped closer to the crate and held out a hand for a crowbar, which the slayer who'd told him about the package brought him.

He wedged the crowbar under the top and wrenched it free. He peered down at the contents- there was no packing popcorn, the contents were bolted to the base of the crate. Inside was a barrel-shaped object with red arcane markings on it. Xander gave a curious glance down at it, then looked up, "Get Giles."

Willow gave it a glance and with a flick of her hand the sides of the crate came apart around it, leaving it fully exposed.

"So why did I have to open it if you could do that?"

"Because you lost," she chuckled, "besides, you needed me on hand in case there was some curse-on-open thing you needed me to unhex."

He set his hand on the object, "Gee, thanks," he chuckled- then jumped back as the barrel started spinning on its base. "Whoa- that wasn't me," he said with no certainty in his voice. The object started spinning faster until the lettering was a blur- the space around Xander started to blur as he was moved while standing still. The world around him passed by, then turned into a seemingly endless hallway. Abruptly even that ended and he was standing in a large room with only two features, a small hallway on the far end, and a towering structure with a massive peephole in the center. "Well, it's a bit over down, but I might as well…"

Xander sighed and headed towards the peephole. Peering though it, he saw instead of a small little crawlspace was a room full of free-floating platforms connected to similar peepholes. All of these platforms surrounding a central stage complete with red curtain. The curtain slowly opened and Xander realized instead of staring through the peephole he was standing on the stage in front of an old gentlemen in a wheelchair and a women whose face was hidden by a black veil.

"Well, I give you props in the 'over the top' department."

"Without theatrics, I find life would be painfully boring," the old man chuckled as he twisted a cane in his hand while pretending to examine his hand. He looked up at Xander, "I'm also a man who likes to hedge his bets. Something big is happening, it's not your world, but you might find it interesting anyway, apocalypse interesting, and I need a wildcard in the deck."

Xander saw so many things to address in that sentence he wasn't sure where to start. "Um… What kind of wildcard."

"One who sees beneath the obvious, and beyond it."

"Okay, I get how you might see that in me, but, what do you want me to do?"

"Frankly, I want you to be the element of chaos in an otherwise structured apocalypse, if you happen to prevent it in the process, that'll just give me all the more time to be ready for the next one."

"So you're evil?"

"By your world view, probably, I'm an avatar for what you would know as _the_ devil."

"Ah, now things are making a bit of sense. You want me there because you know I'll stop try to stop any apocalypse, even the other sides."

"Exactly, but I will give you something for your troubles."

"I still have more questions?"

"And you'll figure out most of your answers, but I don't want to overwhelm you with too much at once."

Xander scratched his temples, "You know who I am, and you're worried about overwhelming me?"

"I assure you, the next Twenty-four hours will be overwhelming. You evaded the topic of my willingness to pay you in advance."

"Yeah I did, I'm a little leery about accepting gifts from a man who claims to be an avatar of Satan. But you seem to be avoiding any more questions, you must realize my friends will be looking for me, what steps have you taken to prevent them from finding me?"

"The Amala Network is vast, it will be some time before your friends find you, and it's the only means that I have left them. At which point I anticipate you will either be finished, or thoroughly invested in the endeavor."

"So you plan to basically drop me in an unknown world, let me figure out what's going on, and want to intervene?"

"Yes."

"You know, for the Avatar of a being also known as the deceiver, you're very straightforward with me, it's clear you've told me nothing useful in the long term, but just enough to aim me like a cannon."

"I'll take that as a complement, considering its implications." He set his hands in his lap, laying his cane over his lap.

The lady with the veil stepped towards Xander, "I'm going to present you with my master's gift, I must warn you it will not be pleasant at first."

"Ah, see- I might be more suspicious if it didn't hurt," he joked.

The woman didn't even crack a smile, a jar about the size of a football. She reached into the jar and pulled out a creature curled up about half the size of a fist-

"Wait- what are you doing with that thing- and why is it going to hurt?" He tried to lift his arms to interpose only to find himself paralyzed. He couldn't even move his jaw anymore; just leave it hanging open as she gently set the creature inside his mouth. The creature, seeking shelter, scurried down his throat, and suddenly Xander could move again, he immediately clutched his throat and gasped, choking as the creature went down. Xander quickly fell to his knees in excruciating agony. And as the red curtain began to fall again, and the man in the wheelchair was pulled back into the shadows by the veiled woman, Xander realized he was in the room with a peephole again. And just as he felt himself black out, he felt something drag him back over to the large barrel, which Xander realized by now connected to whatever this Amala Network the avatar had told him about. The last image his eyes sent his brain before passing out was a human shaped creature about as tall as the length from his elbow to the tip of his longest finger, with red hair flying on dragonfly wings.

When Xander woke up some time later in what looked like an alley. He blinked and wiped away a tear from his left eye- then froze, because that eye shouldn't have been there. He looked down at his hand and saw he was giving off a blue glow from stripes along his skin.

"I said, _are you okay_," he looked over at a police officer with the abbreviation JCPD on his hat.

"What happened?"

"You tell me, I heard a crash in the alley, and came down to investigate."

Xander sighed, then chuckled, "Well, I don't want to overwhelm myself all at once, so let's start with where am I?"

"How specific do I need to be? Earth, USA, Jump City?" The officer paused when he noticed Xander start at that one.

"So is there a Titan's Tower?"

"Well yeah, why wouldn't there be?"

"Because apparently I'm not in the same universe I was in yesterday…" As Xander started to sit up the officer gasped- "What?"

"Y-you got something stickin' out of your neck," he pointed. Xander reached back with his hand and felt a small- horn- growing out the back of his neck where spine would otherwise be jutting just a little anyway.

Xander growled a little, "Well now I know how I got my eye back…" The Officer quirked an eyebrow and Xander chuckled, "I was just- well- far from normal anyway- but human anyway, just yesterday- maybe, depends on how long I've been unconscious, sans one eye lost in battle with evil."

The officer gave him a curious look, "Seriously, just yesterday I was at the command center in what might as well have been a small underground war against- nevermind," he sighed. "My friends will eventually find me, until then I might as well be useful here," He pulled himself to his feet.

"How so?"

"I have a unique set of skills, that are practically useless without equipment, and I was dropped here pretty much bare," when he stood up completely he realized he was shorter than the officer- he looked down at the ground and realized that was because _he_ was shorter. "Oh god even the first wasn't this cruel," Xander groaned.

"What's the matter kid?"

"_That's _what's the matter, I'm a kid again!"


	2. Jump City and Furious Hexwork

Xander sighed, now out of sight of the cop he began assessing just how little he had for supplies. His main side arm with a military-style clip that could hold up to 15 shots- currently shy two from a prior incident he hadn't had gotten around to reloading since, a smaller, hidden derringer in his sleeve with two shots, a nine clipped pistol, fully loaded in a thigh holster. He really hopped he could resolve any encounters he might have on his trip to Titan's Tower _non_-lethally, but given his limited training style of kill-or-die…

In his other sleeve was the only non-immediately lethal weapon he owned, the arm opposite the derringer carried a stunning energy blade, magic-based and a tribute to his inner geek. At his waist was a buckler he could snap on in a flash.

He had to stop for a moment when the truth started sinking in- "I'm in the comics- or a cartoon- now I got to figure out which one…" He sighed and started moving again, now at least he could see the looming Titan's Tower, in the obligatory 'T' shape, it was looking more like the cartoon style, but one look at the costumes ought to solidify which world he was in…

"Well look what do we have here, some weirdo dumb enough to come through our turf," Xander's head shot up, that voice right there told him it was the cartoon version-

"Gizmo…" He muttered under his breath.

"He looks weird," Mammoth commented.

"You would know," Jinx said with a smirk. "I think he looks kinda cute."

"Oh this bodes well," Xander said sarcastically.

"So he can talk," Mammoth chuckled.

"Dude he glows in the dark."

"I've been meaning to find a way to fix that," Xander quipped.

"So what are you doing on our turf?"

"Assuming I'm not about to be assaulted, just passing through…"

"Oh we wouldn't assault you," Gizmo cackled…

"Assuming you cooperate," Jinx amended…

"And give us all your stuff," Mammoth finished.

"And there we have a problem," Xander sighed, "Neglecting the fact I don't have much to begin with, I'm not particularly willing to part with it."

Mammoth laughed, "And how do you plan to stop us?"

Xander sighed again and simultaneously drew his main side arm and flicked out his derringer, pointing the larger one at Mammoth and the smaller at Jinx, "I know you can hex me, but I can pull this trigger long before the hex actually reaches me, that just leaves Gizmo over there to decide if he wants to face either of you if he lets me shoot you." Xander frowned, "You can just let me walk away, here and now."

"You think guns scare me," Mammoth growled, then froze when Xander lowered his aim towards Mammoth's crotch. Xander slowly stepped back out of the alley.

"You realize if we ever met again-"

"You'll make me suffer, you'll make me pay, you'll make me hurt, and you'll have to work hard for every ounce of it." Xander ducked out of sight in the same moment he lowered his weapons and dashed off. Once he was several blocks away he paused out of sight and sighed again… "Why do the evil ones always find me cute…"

"Must be your confidence."

Xander tensed and looked up at Jinx looking down from a rooftop. "Can't be that, my curse with women started when I was still a geek in Hawaiian T-shirts."

"Must have been hidden back then, the kinda balls it takes to hold a gun on a girl like me don't drop overnight," she dropped noiselessly from the roof inches from him.

"Actually, that's kinda how it works," he mused, he'd already re-holstered both guns, and he knew Jinx wouldn't give him the time to reach either of them, even the derringer in his sleeve would take a motion that he'd need the element of surprise to achieve. "So, how does this work, you blast the crap out of me until you feel better about yourself?"

"Nah, that would be petty of me," she said dangerously.

Xander shrunk a bit and began sliding back out of the alley-

"Don't!" she commanded, Xander froze. "Now, where could you possibly be headed in this general direction away from Hive Five turf?"

"Fresh beach air?"

"I think you were heading for the Titans."

"Now why would you possibly think that, I'm clearly more violent in my approaches than them."

"But you admit to being a do-gooder, I'll have to tell Gizmo he was right about that."

"So you followed me alone?" He slowly edged one hand up the other.

"Now you wouldn't have another Derringer up that sleeve too would you," Jinx held out her hand menacingly.

"Nope," he slipped out what looked like a small, blade-less hilt.

"Now what is that, a _lightsaber_," she joked.

"Almost," he triggered the blade and it extended, it was green, but not purely cylindrical like a lightsaber would have been, rather it was more conical, it was wider at the base as the crystals focused the magical beam into a tight point where it ended. "It's a stun blade, or Stunsaber if you like, honestly the only non-lethal weapon in my arsenal."

Jinx chuckled and threw a hex, just to watch Xander cut through it with his blade. Jinx smiled anyway, "You know I'm willing to bet if I hit the handle you won't be so lucky."

"I'm sure you're right," he conceded.

"I can also hurt you a lot without even touching you."

Xander looked around the alley at all the things she could knock around, "Also true," he said, this time without the note of confidence. He slipped his hand down and managed to slip his backup weapon from his thigh holster.

Pointing the gun at her, Xander started stepping out of the alley again. Jinx glared death beams, "That's twice you've pulled a gun on me, two more times than I've let anyone get away with before." She clenched her fists tightly; the buildings around her started shaking, and Xander bolted again, gun and blade in hands. Jynx unleashed a huge hex from both hands; the buildings on either side shook off their foundations and crumbled, Jynx pursued…

Back at Titans' Tower an alert started blaring. Cyborg was the first to the display, he pulled up the information just as Robin arrived beside him, Beast Boy and Starfire shortly behind, lastly Raven appeared by coming up through the floor below.

"Computer picked up a disturbance near the coast, massive damage." Cyborg typed a few more keystrokes; the large screen in the middle of the room blew up the image of the city with a pin point where the disturbance was.

"Titans, let's move out!"

They all took off in typical fashion, quickly arriving at the scene of a brutal battle, Xander with untold bruises, cuts, scuffs, and assorted marks; Jinx however, had only one bullet wound in her arm, and a glancing one at that, her eyes were glowing with rage and she was hexing almost randomly.

The Titans exchanged confused glances, "What do we do," Beast Boy finally asked.

"First we restrain them both I guess, figure out what's going on by asking questions…"

Xander caught another hex with his blade. He couldn't dare getting closer as violent as was right now. "Damn it Jinx it was a warning shot!"

She just screamed in response, unleashing a massive wake of a hex, a huge pile of rubble rising up and following the hex. Xander leapt, he was becoming more amazed each moment by what he was discovering, he should have been whimpering on the ground by now, but he seemed to be the cliché, faster, stronger, better. As he jumped, it was more than twice as high as he'd ever done before, leaping more than his own height. As the wave passed he decided move in, pushing off into a short run he took a running leap at Jinx and slashed him with his Stun blade.

She reacted instantly, she slugged him, a hex reinforced blow, knocking him away, but she was panting now, the stun blade was making her weaker, but she was so pumped on adrenaline right now that even that wasn't enough to knock her out. As Xander moved in for a second strike, since she was winded now, Beast Boy came leaping down as a monkey and wrapped himself around Xander. Raven threw up a massive wall between Xander and Jinx. Cyborg and Robin each stood on opposing sides of Raven's wall, and Starfire swooped in, slipping her arms under Jinx' and grabbing her.

"Hey, I'm cool once she is," Xander said as he rose his hands, sword and broken gun still in them. It was then that he seemed to really asses the damage to the small pistol, "Aw man, there's no way I'll be able to put this back together," he dropped the ruined chunk of metal and grip.

Jinx however was less cooperative, and had since managed to judo chuck Starfire into Raven's barrier, which barely held, however even it couldn't hold on the barrage of hex blasts. Jinx started towards Xander again, ducking under Cyborg and knocking down Robin who had his back to her. Xander dived for coved despite Beast Boy's slightly relaxed grip, which tightened in panic mid-dive. Xander dived under Jinx and slashed her again with his stun blade, having more of an effect this time-

She crashed hard, landing in the rubble she'd created. Xander deactivated his blade and shoved it back in his sleeve. He turned to face the Titans who were all now staring at him, waiting for his next move. Xander sighed again and looked up at Beast Boy- who was just opening his eyes.

"Hi," Xander said at last, "I was- ah… On my way to see you guys, when I ran into the Hive Five, well- three of them, I got away, but Jinx chased me, I gave her a warning shot- and that just pissed her off more…"

"Coming to see us why, who are you," Robin asked.

Xander took a deep breath and held it in contemplation of where to begin. "Can we get out of here first, this could take a while to explain, and I really don't wanna go another round with Jinx…"

"Should we turn her over to the authorities," Beast Boy wondered aloud.

"She didn't really do anything this time- aside from a lot of property damage," Xander defended. "Why don't one of you just drop her off where her 'friends' can find her for now, she's not quite ready afterall."

"Not quite ready for what?"

"To atone," Xander chuckled.

"Jinx, atone, Psh, yeah right," Beast Boy chuckled, but he was the only one to do so. "Don't tell me I just volunteered?"

"You did now," Robin smirked.


	3. The Origins of DemiHawk

Xander sat down in the main couch with all eyes still on him. Robin opened his mouth to speak and Xander cut him off, "Once Beast Boy's back, I don't want to have to re-start 'cause he came in mid-way." He sighed, "And believe me even if he took hours he'd come in mid-way…"

"Mid way to what," Beast Boy asked as he walked in.

"My story, which under current circumstances has to be told _en media res_," he chuckled. Then started with the package, leaving out who Willow was and what a Slayer was for later, he mentioned that he was pulled from his reality, but decided why he was chosen was more important than what he was chosen for first. At which point he began at the beginning, "It all began with a girl, one girl in all the world…" At which point he explained what a Slayer was, and a little bit about Buffy, and how that brought all kinds of trouble into his world, he jumped to the first, and how he lost his eye, how it was Caleb who first put words to his power. "I see things, not precognition, I just, read people, really well, I get to know a little bit about someone and I can usually figure them out pretty quick." He wrapped up with the destruction of SunnyDale-

"Wait- you destroyed, _the whole town_," Beast Boy gaped.

Xander chuckled, nodded, and moved on, explaining briefly his role in their little army now. And lastly he circled back to the package. Here he got vague, he told them in the box was a object that served as a gateway system to something called 'The Amala Network', which he'd been told about by 'the old man' who summoned him through it, and told him about a coming apocalypse he wanted Xander to play the wildcard in.

"Old news man, Raven's birthday has come and passed."

"I doubt that's what he meant, I got the implication he was talking a heavenly apocalypse, rather than a hellish one."

Raven's head shot up at that one, "There aren't many of those, and they're always much harder to prevent. I don't even know how you've prevented as many apocalypses as you've said?"

"Stubborn persistence," he mused.

"What are you anyway?" Cyborg finally asked.

"I _was_ human, but the old man's nursemaid gave me something, it went inside me and changed my body- also apparently changed my age- probably by changing how I age- or how fast at least- so in response, my body got younger and regenerated my eye."

"Old man and a nursemaid?" Raven seemed to recognize the imagery.

"You know who they are?"

"I think my father showed them to me, in a dream… The old man, he was in a wheelchair, with a cane, and the woman, she had a veil over the top half of her face?"

"Yeah?"

"Those two were really one; they are one of two avatars known to my father, Avatars of-"

"They told me what they are- or he did anyway, more or less, I still want to help however I can, I know he's just using me, but that's why he picked me, he knew I'd help anyway, and I want to," he said firmly.

"Okay," Raven said quietly, the rest of the Titans with confused looks on their faces… "In my library, I may be able to help you figure out what the creature was he put inside you, in case you want to remove it."

"I'd like the option available in case it becomes necessary; at the very least it'd be nice to know more about what I can do while it's in me…"

"Whatever it is, it's clearly transformed you, given you aspects of demons."

Xander chuckled, "Oh goodie," he said sarcastically, "Least it's not like it's made me a mind reader."

"That's a rare gift, even in demons," Raven frowned.

"I know, but my friend, Buffy, she got it once, it nearly drove her insane before we managed to get rid of it."

"Didn't you say the slayer's powers were already demonic in nature?"

"Yeah, but she had no experience with something so overwhelming, and no means to control it, it completely messed her up, maybe with time, but by then she'd be driven so mad, and we really didn't figure she'd last that long, way things were going, it was practically killing her."

Raven shrugged, "Follow me and we'll try to find out what kind of Demi-Fiend he's made you into…"

"Demi-Fiend?"

"It's what my father called humans given demonic forms."

Back in the main room after Xander left with Raven, Beast Boy finally broke the silence, "So to this dude- we're like- _Comic book heroes_?"

"If we are to believe what this 'Xander' says," Starfire confirmed.

"So some sort of evil avatar wants this guy to prevent a heavenly apocalypse?" Cyborg summarized to clarify what they were believing.

Robin smirked, "I get the impression, if he's telling the truth, he'd be the one I'd pick to do it too."

"I don't understand," Starfire said in confusion.

Back at the doorway to Raven's room, Xander paused at the threshold, he chuckled, "It was half a season before anyone besides you was ever inside your room- not counting Jinx's intrusion."

"I said come on in," she reinforced, "My books are in here, and we'll need my private ones."

Xander shrugged and went in. Raven walked over to one wall with a bookcase lining it. She skimmed her fingers along it until one book sprung out into her waiting hand. "What did the creature look like," Raven asked, "the one the Avatar put inside you?"

"About as long as from the tip of my pinky to the end of my hand," he held up his hand, "well, as long as it used to be, so a little bigger than now," he chuckled, "About three fingers wide, and it curled into a fetal ball about half the size of my fist."

"That helps a little, but what did it _look_ like," Raven asked more firmly.

"It was curled into a fetal ball, and dropped into my mouth, I didn't exactly get a picture of it to show you," Xander defended.

"Well, small, capable of oral insertion, only cuts about half of the things it could be." Raven said calmly. "It did also transform your body in giving you demonic traits, but seems to have left the soul unaltered, if I might suggest, it didn't make you younger, it just compacted you in preparation for a 'demonic puberty' of sorts."

"Oh _that_ sounds so much better," he said sarcastically.

"I take it you're against becoming demonic in nature."

Xander chuckled again, "Now there's a loaded question." He paused to consider, "No, I don't think it would bother me as much as it might have back when I started fighting vampires, especially since I'm not loosing my soul in the process… What bothers me is that I wasn't asked, and I wasn't told everything before it was forced onto me."

"If you were given the choice?"

"I probably would have declined honestly… I don't think of myself as the fighter, I've been there, I've been thrashed in the process, and I'm perfectly content running things from the operations side of things."

"But now that you have the power?"

"At one point we were without Buffy- twice actually, but the first time she was gone, all of us grouped together to take out the Vamps in town best we could, we had about a 1 in 10 ratio of success, but we managed that without any casualties on our side… long enough for Buffy to return. During that time we developed short hand radio codes and nicknames… I was Nighthawk, but that's far to close to Nightwing, Robin's eventual new name, you say I've become what your father calls a 'Demi-fiend', how about Demi-hawk?"

"You mean becoming a Titan?"

"I have skills that could help you all, and a willingness to do what's necessary."

"Above and beyond, from what you've told us," Raven said as she stared over her book.

"We live by a simple code at slayer ops, _there's _**no**_ such thing as overkill, _only_ unacceptable losses_."

"If not for that second part you would not be received well," Raven pointed out, and then opened the book a little wider to display something in it to him, "was it anything like one of the creatures here?"

"No, when it curled it was more spiral-ly… it looked nothing like a snail shell, but it was a curled as one. As such I didn't see much of the creature itself."

"When it crawled down your throat- did you feel enough to be able to tell if it had legs, was it slimy, sticky, sweet, _any_ details you can think of…"

"It's not like I got a taste of it, but no, it wasn't slimy, um… if it had legs they were smaller than one would expect, even for such a small creature, but I think so…?"

Xander was peering over the top of Raven's book as she continued looking, now through three books at once. "Wait- that thing- it looked a little like that one."

Raven set aside the other books and looked over the entry Xander pointed out, then sighed, "Well we have it down to a class of Demon, Magatama, and there are a lot of subtypes for this, but they're usually found in embryonic worlds."

"Embryonic? Like, worlds being born?"

"Yes, I think I know what sort of apocalypse you're supposed to prevent, someone wants to enact The Conception, reverting the world to-"

"I think the term 'Conception' captures the idea, the world gets to be 're-born' and of course first has to be 'un-born'…"

"In essence." She frowns, "But it is more specific, the world basically comes in on itself, becoming a womb for the next world to come, and inverted sphere. Those in remaining in the world, usually the same people who brought about the conception, their 'reason' creates the new world."

"But I take it your book doesn't tell you how The Conception occurs?"

"No, this isn't actually about that, but between what I already know and vague hints here, I know where to find the information, in the Scriptures of Miroku."

"Which I take it you don't have?"

"No."

"Okay then tell me more about the Magatama?"

"It doesn't actually say much, just a few sample pictures with names, and that their only found in embryonic worlds and are rare even then. But now that we know what we're looking for we can narrow our search, when we have the chance anyway…"

"Which is to say we've reached the limits of your personal library?"

"Pretty much yes, but I do know one more thing, as you mature in your demon strength; the Magatama will grant you more powers."


	4. The Birth of DemiHawk

AN:

grymstalker: I've already read Nighthawk Chronicles, and Journyverse, and a few other Xander-centric fics, I liked nighthawk chronicles orginally, but I don't like the direction he started taking in the last couple bits... I still love Journeyverse, which has it's own sight, i think it'll still redirect if you just add the dot-com to Journeyverse, but I forget the actual sites name now... But this isn't just a Titans Xander-fic, the demon and the Avatar stuff is taken from the video game Shin Megami Tensei 3 Nocture (possibly misspelled) my all time favorite video game (and where the glow in the dark patterns I gave Xander came from, and though I'm adding a few details to it, the horn too {I'm going to have _too_ much fun when I get around to revealing what the horn can do})

::End AN::

"So, Xander, have you finished your costume yet?"

"Please Di-err… Robin… Don't call it that, it will be my combat suit, or uniform, or something more formal than that." Xander turned away from the punching bag to look at Robin, who was frowning. "What?"

"I should have realized with the information you have, that you know each of our uncostumed names. Believe me; no matter what you call it, to the rest of the world, it will be a costume." He crossed his arms, in this case a slightly defensive demonstration that he was relaxing. "So how are you're physical exams coming?"

"My strength right now seems to be right at the border between super human and maximum human limits, I expect with training I'll surpass that, but because I'm used to a human body, it'll take a while, my speed and reaction time also border the limits of the lesser end of superhuman… I think Raven was right, I've entered a new puberty, and as I progress through it my abilities will increase." He sighed and crossed his own arms, turning the rest of his body now as well. "So, in summery, I'm about as strong as Cyborg, Twice as fast, and my reflexes leave you both in the dust… However my nature of training as it stands, either of you could beat me with little difficulty in prolonged combat…"

"Prolonged combat?"

"If I were to have my normal advantages, you'd never see it coming," Xander smirked.

"Special Weapons and Tactics," Robin chuckled.

"Magic Weapons and Supernatural Tactics," Xander laughed back.

"Magic and supernatural are still special, SWAT still applies," Robin emphasized.

"In the vaguest sense, it's still yet another entirely different form of combat."

"Like blowing up a city," Robin said sarcastically.

"To stop an otherwise unstoppable force," Xander defended, he took a step back to keep from looking immediately aggressive, used to his defensive posture with Slayers.

"Did you kill it?"

"I don't think we ever figured out if it could be killed… But we stopped it, in a very long term sense…" Xander said with the slightest bit of regret.

"Xander…" Robin started, but then stopped, "Your methods…"

"…Are extreme, for extreme situations, that I've faced an extremely absurd number of times," Xander finished. "Robin, I'm used to saving the world decisions, those situations that weren't _save the world_ extreme, we never went that far, and we relied predominantly on the Slayer. Every case in which we resorted to overwhelming firepower was a case of- if we didn't, countless people would _**die**_."

Robin sighed, "I understand, but it doesn't make it any easier to deal with."

Xander retook the step he'd gone back, moving closer to Robin, "When Trigon was here, on earth, you were willing to deal with Slade, when you _knew_, you _absolutely knew_, he would turn on you at some point, the fact that he didn't until long after those events is irrelevant, you knew, letting Slade help you in exchange for helping him, would eventually cause more trouble. But you did it anyway, because you needed the extra help to defeat Trigon and save the world. Would you still do that, even now, that you've had plenty of time to think about it?"

Robin grimaced as if in pain, "Yes."

"_Those_ are the kind of decisions I'm used to being a part of… We blew up a town, where the only people left, were people who had chosen a side, or chosen they'd rather die than leave their home, but they _chose_."

"Just… If it comes to that-" Robin was fighting to form words, "Don't cut us out, it's _our_ decision too."

"Deal… And to your first question, I finished it last night, I'll show everyone this afternoon after I finish training and shower."

"Your- outfit," Robin smirked.

"That'll do as well as any other term…"

Even after his shower, Xander still hadn't put on his outfit just yet; he went to Cyborg's room and knocked. Cyborg opened the door and looked down at him…

"Oh, yeah, it's ready," he told Xander before he could even ask.

"All of it?"

"I said it's ready," he chuckled.

"Good, let's begin the procedure."

A few hours later he was at Starfire's door knocking…

"Did you find it?"

"I did, it was exactly where you said, and you were right about galactic drift affecting the course to retrieve it as well… May I ask, why you need it?"

"You can ask, and I'll tell you a few of the reasons, but I won't lie to you and say I've ever told you all of them."

"You will have to explain at least a great deal of them before I trust you with this," she frowned.

"Fair enough…"

A few more hours and he was at Raven's door-

"I see you've had Cyborg give you a few alterations."

He hadn't even knocked yet… "A few things here and there," he conceded, then changed the subject, "I've concluded you're right about that coming demonic puberty thing, I need some advice on a couple matters."

"Alright…"

It was late in the evening when Xander finally announced he was ready to present himself as DemiHawk. The other Titans were all gathered in the main room. When DemiHawk stepped out his outfit was mostly black, with a white, hard lining along where the glowing stripes on his skin were. There were harder reinforcements well concealed in his outfit, all of which creating the image that he was much more masculine then he really was. And at every joint in his body, the outfit mimicked the real horn at the back of his neck. Most of his face was covered as well, including a one-way mirror over his eyes. On his chest in red was the image of a diving hawk. At his waist was a small utility belt similar to Robins, only silver. There was a cylinder at his waist as well.

"What's that," Beast Boy was the first to ask any questions.

"I had Cyborg throw this together for me," he reached to his waist and grabbed it. "It can transform into nearly a thousand different weapons in its database. It's my Transforming Weapons Kit," he smirked and set it back at his waist.

"Okay, I gotta ask this one," Cyborg chuckled, "What's with the white edges?"

"I told ya' I was working on a way to fix my glow in the dark issues." He used a hand to showcase the white edges, "The material absorbs light, at least until you apply a current to it."

With no obvious motions, there was a muted click, followed by a blinding flash. All the Titans covered their eyes in pain. DemiHawk smirked and waited for their sights to come back.

"I didn't know you intended it for that purpose," Raven muttered.

"Not just for that," DemiHawk explained. "I also wanted it for the control I asked."

A ringing sound came from the main computer.

"Well I guess the rest of the show will have to wait," Robin mused as he headed for the computer.

"No that's fine, I didn't really plan on showing anything else off anyway," DemiHawk shrugged.

Robin frowned, but hit the receive button, immediately shocked by what he saw on the screen. "Br- Batman?"

Xander gawked too, the newest movie version of Batman- but- he'd hadn't taken a Robin yet- so by that timeline it was further than he'd seen- suddenly he was a lot more interested to learn _when_ he was again…

"Robin, I've got bad news, do you remember the Joker?" Robin paled, which Batman took as a yes. "He's escaped, and I think he'll be headed to Jump City once he's learned you're there?"

Robin looked down and nodded. "I'll be alright though, I've got the Titans here; you stay in Gotham in case he doesn't come here."

Robin turned off the screen and turned away from it looking down like a pet just died…

"Robin, why would the Joker be after you?"

"You know about the Joker?"

"Apparently not as well as I thought, if he's after you for some reason."

"Tell me what you know, I'll try to fill in what I can."

"Soon after Batman defeated Raz Al Ghoul and made a real impact on the Gotham, The Joker appeared, no real goals, just striking out opportunistically. He was responsible for Two-Face, and killed dozens of people trying to convince Batman to unmask himself, but that was all a ploy- he just wanted an excuse to kill. The money he took from the mafia to kill Batz he just burned. He killed the DA's assistant, setting off the man who would become Two-Face, and unwittingly striking a blow at Batman too. I don't know anything passed that- because it shouldn't have happened yet by the apparently limited knowledge I have. I have to ask- have you guys- The Titans- fought the Brotherhood of Evil yet?"

"Brotherhood of Evil," Beast Boy jolted in shock, "Why would they strike us- they've got the Doom Patrol to face?"

Xander smirked, then frowned, "Which you're part of, but I don't get it, this is before the last season, but this didn't happen in the series… I didn't even know this was linked to, because the movies hadn't even gotten far enough to create a Robin?"

Everyone was a little shocked at the revelation that Beast Boy was part of the Doom Patrol, but Robin was smirking a bit, "So you don't know it all," he said at last.

"Never claimed to know it all, just enough, but apparently I was wrong, why would Joker want you?"

"I assume through other sources you know my origins?"

"Probably not 100 percent, but I got the cliff notes version I'm sure."

"Okay, not long after that, Joker breaks out; he comes for Batman in a roundabout fashion as usual… He went after random people, sheer dumb luck he gets his hands on Bats out of costume, tries to use him as bait to draw him out… That leaves me to stop Joker, only he thinks Batman sent me in his place, but I still beat him, he wants to beat me to prove to Batman it was a mistake to underestimate him…"


	5. Looking for a Punchline

"I think the underworld knows my name at least," Xander chuckled as he lifted back his mask back at the tower.

"But are we any closer to finding Joker," Robin stressed.

"No," Cyborg muttered, followed in turn by Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire.

"I've at least confirmed he's here," Xander pointed out.

"How," Robin turned his full attention back to him.

"Found a Rat, too scared to tell me where, but when I threatened to give him the same scars he at least confirmed he saw him, gave me a convincing description of a new guy in Jump."

"You threatened to give him the same scars," Robin scowled.

"Hey, at least I didn't string him up over a skyscraper by his heels, which is in effect threatening to kill them."

"Which is what you do when you pull a _gun_ on someone!"

"I didn't actually hurt him!"

"But you were willing to!"

"Please!" Starfire stepped between them. "Let us stop the yelling now."

"Yes, yelling doesn't resolve the issue at hand," Raven amended.

"But there _is_ an issue to handle here," Robin said with restrained anger.

"Yeah, the issue here that you all always talk big and threatening, but when someone actually has the nerve to do what they threaten, '_oh we can't have that_'."

"No! We can't have someone willing to _kill_, that makes us no better than them!"

"It makes us _less_ better than them, and _I_ can live with that, but I still _care_ and that makes me better than them."

"You're no better than Raz!"

"The town I destroyed was practically empty, every life I've ever even been a part of destroying was _un_-savable."

"How can you know that?"

"_Most_ of them didn't even have _souls_ anymore!"

"And the others?"

"Were hard choices, _every_ one of them, but they _had_ to be made."

Robin growled, clenching his teeth, "You still haven't answered, _WHAT_ it is that makes you _know _that!"

Xander took a deep breath and gave a more serious expression, "Robin there is no single answer. Each event has to be examined on its own."

"I don't accept that," Robin crossed his arms stubbornly.

Xander gave an exasperated sigh, "If I get the chance, I'll kill him, we can discuss the reasons for it later…"

"You _can't_ kill him!"

"No- _you_ can't kill him, Robin- you have to understand that some people can't be saved."

"I know that, like Slade," he looked down.

"Slade is just an old man looking for an apprentice- he won't kill because he wants you to be willing. Joker- is a psychopathic- sociopathic- homicidal- serial murderer!"

Another alarm went off, Cyborg went over to the computer and punched up the alert, "There's something outside!" All six Titans ran out the front door to see what was there.

It was a body, dressed in a poor mock-up of Xander's new costume, but wearing a mask more like Robin's, and the trademark 'R' on his chest. The face was painted white and scarred at the lips, mimicking Joker's scars. On the chest was a note, 'Another Bird?'

"This is the guy," Xander said in a saddened tone, "The one who confirmed for me Joker was in Jump…" He glared daggers at Robin, "How many people will Joker have to kill before you accept that he is unredeemable…"

"But- killing him?"

Xander didn't bother to answer; he just walked back into the Tower…

"Um, what is it we are to do with the body," Starfire asked.

All the other Titans looked up at her.

"I guess- we… call the police- let them know we- found a body," Cyborg said with more than a little confusion…

"DemiHawk is right about one thing," Robin admitted, "Joker is nothing like anyone we've fought before. Joker is a killer…" Robin turned his back and headed inside as well.

That left Cyborg to make the call. Raven and Starfire went inside as well, Starfire followed Robin, and Raven returned to her room to find Xander waiting outside it.

"I told you before it's pretty crowded in my mind," Xander said with crossed arms, "Despite that I took your advice and constructed the mirror," He pulled a hand mirror from his belt, "But I need your help to explore my mind the way you do…"

She just nodded and opened the door to her room, motioning for him to follow…

Meanwhile Starfire caught up with Robin. "Robin, tell me more about how this 'Joker' so greatly differs from any enemy we have fought before?"

Robin stopped in his tracks and tried to put words to his thoughts. "The Joker doesn't care," he began.

"Pardon?"

"The Joker just wants to destroy, lives, cities, minds, anything. He doesn't care about making money, or impressing anyone, he just wants to watch the world fall apart."

"I'm not sure I understand."

Robin turned to face her. "Every villain we've faced before wanted something for all their effort, money, recognition, respect… Joker doesn't care about any of these motivations; his motivation is in the destruction itself." Robin sighed, "He doesn't care, he will destroy anything he can, including us, if he thinks he can't get more pleasure by destroying the things we care about first…"


	6. HellMind Ho!

"Why do you seem to trust me more than any of the other Titans?"

"Because you understand more about the nature of Demons."

"But I am part demon."

"Half, but more importantly, you have a soul."

"So does the Joker."

"Can we just do this?"

"I'm just saying, I know about demons, but being with the Titans has taught me a lot about the world of humans."

"Now you're sounding like Starfire," Xander growled. He grabbed at his mask, a piece covering from just under his hair down over his cheeks, leaving his hair and his face from the nose down exposed. He grabbed it as one piece and yanked it off and looked up at her. "I'm begging you to just drop it."

"You wanted my help, it comes with my advice, which is maybe you should take some time to reconsider this Joker Issue…"

Xander opened his mouth, then closed it, "Fine, I'll give it some more thought, just not this second." He held up the mirror, "I'm actually kinda scared of what I'll find in here."

Raven sighed and took his hand with the mirror in it; the two of them were pulled inside…

"Noo," Xander groaned… He looked around and in his mindscape was Sunnydale high, looking much like it did before it was destroyed the first time, except also including the construction site he'd been working on before it was destroyed the second time, and beneath, a transparent ground showing the crater that Sunnydale became. He did a double take as he spotted a shadow looming inside the crater. He looked down and saw the outline of stairs form their way down towards it.

"What is this place?"

Xander put a hand to his forehead, "Every high school kid thinks their high school is hell, mine really was- sitting on top of it," he chuckled, "The Mouth of Hell anyway."

"Your high school was built on top of a Hellmouth," Raven stared in disbelief.

Xander nodded and started down the stairs that had now finished forming. At the bottom was a room mimicking the basement of the rebuilt high school. He looked around and saw three different versions of himself. The real Xander quirked an eyebrow as he examined them. One was sitting against the wall with a cold, brooding look of shame in a blue sweater. Xander opened his mouth to speak his disgust when he looked at the side of him in the corner-

"OH MY GOD!" he rushed over, "Are you alright?"

He was cowered in the corner, blood dripping from his missing eye onto the tasteless green and red Hawaiian shirt. He sniffled as if he'd just recently stopped crying, "I'm alright I guess, just-"

He looked around as if looking out for someone specific, he gasped spotting the Xander dressed in black leather with the vamped out face. "I just scared the pants off him, happens all the time in daylight, I have to stick around down here."

Xander shook his head in a mix of confusion and disgust, "No- but- I never!"

"Jessie man, he stirred the part of you that wanted to be me, oh sure, you've kept me well under control, but I'll always be here, waiting for you to weaken, I almost had it when Dracula had you in his Thrall"

Another Xander came in chuckling, dressed as he was shortly before transforming into a Demi-fiend. "You keep saying that, but it's not likely to happen in this world… Especially not with the newcomers…"

"Newcomers?"

"Your new 'Fiend' side… and-… and an older one, given new form…"

"Oh?"

"Yeah, but you don't want to meet him right now, it's his turn to-" Leader Xander suddenly hushed.

"Might as well tell him, no use hiding what he's already caught wind of," Brooding Xander muttered.

"You could have at least given me time to come up with a cover story!"

"Sorry," Bleeding Xander mumbled.

"Not you, gah…"

"I'm hiding something from myself-how does that work?"

"Part memory suppression, part denial," Vamp Xander rattled off a couple more reasons, ticking each one off with a finger and his other hand, "Part childhood trauma, part insanity, and lastly, part you never really knew what it meant anyway."

"What what meant?"

Vampire Xander chuckled, "You'll see… Eventually anyway, certainly not something that could be hidden forever anyway…"

"Okay, now you're pissin' me off," Xander growled.

"So stake me," he mocked.

"Don't tempt me," Xander spat.

"Let's keep looking," Raven took Xander's shoulder, "No good will come from fighting yourself at this stage…"

"If ya' see 'em, say hi to dog face and dog breath for me," Vamp Xander mused.

Xander sighed in annoyance, but moved back towards the stairs. "I hate vampires," he muttered under his breath.

"But clearly there are aspects of them you admire; his existence is proof of that."

Xander grumbled some more under his breath, Raven only caught some of what he was saying, "Brooding… … Whining… … Pedophilic... … Bastards…"

Raven quirked an eyebrow, but decided this wasn't the time to ask for clarification. "So where do you want to look next?"

"If I'm hiding something from myself, I could try a place I tend to avoid?" He sighed and started towards the school proper.

"Where?"

"Gym…"

A blue 57 Chevy Bel Aire pulled up with another Xander in the driver's seat, purple Hawaiian shirt, black suede jacket, oversized sunglasses and a silver cross on a thick but short chain. "If you're new, shouldn't you be wearing your mask?"

"I'm _the_Xander, I'm exploring my mind."

Car-Guy Xander chuckled, "Welcome to your world…" With that he drove off.

Xander put a hand to his head in annoyance, "Useless…" he muttered. He turned back to the school and walked in. In the hallway he spotted another him and immediately groaned in annoyance. Little angels wings and a diaper looked bad on Xander, the bow and quiver with arrows helped a little, but Cupid Xander looked like a moron…

"Oh hi Raven," Cupid Xander said as he looked up, "You think you could hook me up with your green side? Pink side's probably a little too needy," he chuckled and knocked an arrow, aiming for Raven. Xander sighed and grabbed Cupid Xander's arm and lowered it.

"We're not here for that sort of thing…"

Cupid Xander shrugged and danced off singing a few overly detailed fantasies, leaving Xander even more embarrassed. Raven walked up and set a hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry, I've heard worse…"

"Come on, the Gym is this way…"

"Do you really think you'll find what they're hiding in the Gym?"

"Maybe, if not I ought to find something there- I have way too many bad memories of the Gym…"

As he came up to the door a dodgeball came flying out. Xander managed to catch it and sigh, he pushed open the door and gawked…

In the Gym Soldier Xander, dressed exactly as he was on Halloween was sparing with a hybrid humanoid Hyena Xander. On the court Dodgeballs were flying in all directions. Swim Team Xander, complete with scales got up out of the pool to grab a glass of lemonade…

Xander shut the door and turned away with a blank expression…

"What?"

"Just, never mind, I told you I have a lot of bad memories of the Gym…"

Xander started to walk away; Raven peeked in the window of the doors and shook off a puzzled look before following him. "Where to now?"

"Library."

"What's in the Library?"

"Everything," Xander picked up his pace a bit, realizing the truth in his own words.

He shoved open both doors dramatically. Inside at a bookcase was a Xander in a tweed suit looking at books, sitting at the table with his legs resting on it was Xander dressed in a vest and hat with Press on it, a camera set on the table in front of him, sitting across from him was Xander in a red shirted Star Fleet Uniform, most like the one worn by Kirk in the later movies, with the white rimmed, sweater-like collar, he was reading a comic, but sitting more respectfully.

"Where are they hiding," he asked the room in a demanding tone.

"Downstairs," the relaxed 'Zeppo' Xander answered. Turning and looking past the table was a gaping hole in the library floor, something like what Willow had described to him.

Stepping carefully, Xander slipped himself through the hole and into what now looked like the Master's lair, complete with the same puddle he'd found Buffy in years before. He looked over and saw himself, without the DemiHawk outfit, but complete with the glow-in-the-dark pattern on his skin. Arguing with him was another Xander, with white make-up and scars that mimicked the Joker's.

"Why don't you ever trust me alone in here?"

"Would you," Demon Xander countered…

"Okay Okay, but you know I wouldn't bother, it's no fun in here…"

"Just yesterday you took Zeppo Xander and strung him up by his film roll…"

Joker Xander chuckled, "That was fun, and the whole time he was just screaming, '_I'm not really Jimmy Olson_'."

Xander stepped in. "Your job is officially over, no more hiding things…"

"Works for me," Joker Xander said as he made like he was heading for the door, as he knocked his shoulder against Xander's, "No, wait- I lied, that's not good enough," he shoved Xander back against a cavern wall.

Xander pushed him back away, then reached for his utility belt. Joker Xander grabbed Xander's wrist and pulled him off the wall, then threw him toward the other side. Xander moved to attack as well as Joker Xander. Demon Xander just stood watching, while Raven sighed and threw up a black wall between them both.

"What's hidden here," Raven asked.

"You really don't want to know," Joker Xander told him. "Last time you knew it really messed with you," he chuckled, "You stole Willow's Barbie."

"What," Xander was puzzled. "What did I find out?"

"You met your grandma," another voice said. "On your mother's side." The other Xander walked up to where the Master couldn't pass for ages. He opened a pair of dragonfly looking wings and set his hand at the threshold, and pushed passed it. "Remember now?"

"Oh god…"


	7. Once Upon a Time

_Preschool was ending for the day and Xander was waiting to be picked up. Willow sat down beside him. "Hi 'Xander!"_

"_Hi Wills, what did your mommy and daddy say about this weekend?"_

"_They said sure."_

"_Good, oh look, there's mommy," Xander got up as he spotted his mother- "What's wrong?"_

_Xander's mother adjusted her hair to cover what might have been just a shadow on her face, "Nothing, anyway, um, oh, and I'm sorry Xander but we'll have to cancel your plans with Willow for the weekend, my mother, your grandmother invited us over for the weekend," she lied._

"_But I wanna spend the weekend with Willow," Xander whined, on the verge of a small tantrum._

"_Come on honey, you can visit Willow later, you're gonna meet your mommy's mommy."_

"_Ahhhhh," Xander groaned, crossing his arms, but calming a little._

"'_S okay 'Xander, we'll have next week," Willow consoled. _

"_Come on Xander, we'll have fun, and you can come back and tell Willow all about it…"_

_Xander frownedbut followed as he was told, arms still defiantly crossed as demonstration that this was under protest. At the door to the car he turned back towards Willow, "Bye Willow, see you Monday!"_

_It was a fairly long drive into the middle of nowhere. When they arrived Xander was in awe. It was a moderate sized, one story house with a fairy tale garden on all sides, white picket fence, stepping stone sidewalk leading to the front door with an open wooden two-car garage on the side. Everything looked sunny and new, picturesque. Xander's mouth was wide agape while his mother helped him out of the car._

"_Whoa," he said at last._

_His mother smiled and helped him down the stepping stone sidewalk. At the door it opened before his mother actually knocked. His grandmother opened the door wide, her hair for all her age was still red, and she wore a blue, skintight piece. She looked from Xander to his mother, "I wasn't expecting you, just so you know, your half-sister's visiting too."_

_Xander's mother frowned. "Well, I guess that's okay, as long as she doesn't…" She sighed._

"_I know, I'll ask," she then turned and knelt down to Xander, "Hey there Alex."_

"_Everyone calls me Xander," he corrected her._

"_Well that's okay, I don't go by my real name either, ever since I moved here though I've gotten closer, these days my friends call me Priss, so why don't you call me that."_

"_What did they used to call you?"_

_She chuckled, "I used to go by Pixie, my real name is Priscilla, but I'd prefer you not go spreading that around," she laughed again and gently stroked his hair. She rose to her feet and looked back at Xander's mother, "He looks a little like his grandfather."_

"_There's a scary thought," a voice from inside walked to the doorway, she had red hair too, and her belly was wide with child, somewhere around halfway along. "Another Klien in the world."_

"_I don't think that would be so bad," Priss smirked._

"_You were just as bad."_

_She laughed, "What do you mean _were_?"_

"_Mom," Xander's mother scowled._

"_Well, what are you dears waiting for, come on in-" she frowned, "Dears… my god I am getting old…"_

_Xander's mother choked back a laugh and a smirk, while her half sister didn't hold back and laughed, everyone came inside though. Inside Xander realized how tired he was. In the car he'd been stubborn the whole time and awake, still protesting the entire trip. Now he was really tired, and could barely keep his eyes open._

"_Ah, look, he's tired," his mother's half sister notice, "Can I put him to sleep?"_

"_Don't wanna," Xander moaned._

_His mother sighed, "Sure, we can put him on the couch, right mom?"_

"_Nonsense, he can have my bed."_

"_Don't wanna," Xander said with more emphasis but less strength…_

_His 'aunt' came over and laid a hand on his forehead, and his eyes were like lead, they slid closed, and he awoke hours later…_

"_Strange bed," he murmured as he was only half awake, "strange ceiling…" He opened his eyes a bit wider and blinked; he then started to move and look around to get his bearings. There were voices in the next room. He rolled out of the bed and walked over to the door and listened._

"_Oh what did that meathead of a husband do this time," Priss asked._

"_Don't, mother… He was just- he just lost his job, he'll find a new one quick enough, jobs are easy enough to find in Sunnydale, even when the Hellmouth is dormant."_

"_Why do you live there," his aunt asked._

"_Like you're any better, how's Tormil?"_

"_Still hell, but I like it, I met this guy- well- you can tell that much," she laughed. "But, well, his work takes him to all kinds of hells."_

"_What kind of work?"_

"_Nothing major, mostly communications, his abilities in moving dimensions at will are useful in that."_

"_Sounds dangerous if it takes him to the worst hells?"_

"_A little, but he keeps under the radar as much as he can."_

"_So Serra, tell us about him?"_

_Serra chuckled nervously, "He's cute, even cuter than Dad was in his prime, probably a little more rugged looking, but he knows how to keep his eyes on _one_ woman at a time."_

"_Hey, Klien looked but never touched- without my permission anyway," Priss chuckled._

"_Please mom, we don't need those stories again…" Xander's mother pleaded mockingly._

"_He never was happy when we came here," Priss said sadly. "But after Frost died, his empire fell to his son, Ixidor was far to violent and far to young to have all that work dropped in his lap, Frost may have been childish too, but he worked for what he had, earned it…" She sighed, "But afterwards, I could take us to another world, but I was afraid that wouldn't be enough, not how Ixidor was expanding, I begged Shirei to send us somewhere safe, I never figured she'd send us through time…"_

"_Did you ever look up what happened to Frost's empire?"_

"_After Klien died I got curious, it was his other half, his drow family, after his betrothal formalized and he was married he worked to try and unite his two kingdoms, eventually the bickering forced him to choose, he chose the Drow oddly enough. He was the first significant male leader of the Drow, and he was mixed blood on top of that, he was powerful, or they'd have killed him _before_ he could make a name for himself, even then he was just a really large footnote when I finally found the information."_

"_How's Parn," Xander's mother asked hesitantly, seemingly more to keep up the small talk._

"_Your brother's fine dear, he moved to Cleveland, I guess none of us really know how to stay out of trouble…" Priss laughed weakly. "But he found this girl, I think she's supposed to be a slayer."_

"_Ooh," Sera groaned mournfully, "That can't end well."_

"_About as well as- what was your husband when you met him again," Priss teased Xander's mother._

"_Come on mom, he was a construction manager, it was a good job, but the company died when too many workers died…"_

"_Yes, that was the _first_ time he lost his job and you came here…"_

"_That sleep whammy I put on Xander should be wearing off any time now, I'll go check on him," Xander didn't hear any footsteps until both Sera's feet touched the ground where Xander could see under the door. Xander got back in time as Sera opened the door, he looked up at her._

"_You look shorter?"_

_She stiffened, "No I-" she made a motion like a stretch to cover as she grew a couple inches back to what she was when Xander first saw her._

_Xander's eyes widened and he took a step back. "W-what are you?"_

"_Nothing, same as you anyway," she said weakly._

"_Priss- Pixie, why was she called that?" Xander asked, suspecting the awnser already._

"_Ahh…" she turned her head to think slowly, "She was a free spirit, you'd have to ask her?"_

"_I wasn't _really_ a pixie," Priss said as she came in, "I just didn't like my name, still don't really, and Pixie was close to the truth, and closer still to my name," she admitted._

"_Mom," his mother came in. _

"_Tessa, mysteries are bad for a kid his age. You and Parn grew up knowing about your mixed heritage, hell, you were more fey than human, riding Frost's shoulder, asking him silly questions at bad times, Parn sitting across from you on his other shoulder. You might well have been angel and devil consciouses._

"_Mother!"_

"_You only say that 'cause you were the devil one, always asking the harsh life questions, like 'why not just kill him?'"_

"_What's a fey?" Xander had a lost look as he glanced from his mom, to his aunt, and to his grandmother._

_They all sighed a little nervously. Priss was the first to move; she opened her wings and shrunk to about a foot and a half. His mother was next to do the same, and lastly his aunt. _

_Xander fell backwards and passed out…_

Fey Xander wore the same blue, skintight number, he fluttered his wings that didn't really look big enough to carry his weight as he lifted off the ground and came over to Xander, shrunk down enough to sit on Xander's shoulder and did so.

"Gwah!" Xander jumped back and Fey Xander fell off. He was shaking, "G-get me out of here," he stammered…

"Door's that way," Demon Xander pointed. Raven took Xander by the shoulder and led him out of his mind. Back outside Raven's room Xander and Raven came out of the mirror.

Xander was bordering on hyperventilating when he landed on the floor. Raven loomed over him, "Breath Xander, breath."

"Wha-wha…"

"What was that last you?"

"Wha-wha…"

"Okay, again, you might want to start breathing, just a suggestion…"

"Can't- think- what- fairy…"

Raven sighed and opened the door to her room, escorting a still shaking Xander and setting him on a chair. "What did he remind you?"

Xander took a gulp of a breath and held it before he remembered to breath again. "My mother, is- half fairy, my grandma, she's- her nickname was Pixie…"

"You mean actual fairy, or just unknown type of fey?"

"I ah- I don't know actually, I passed out back then, went all repression mode when I woke up…" He chuckled, "No wonder I never could repress all those vampires, I was too busy repressing this… and my prankish humor, my- ah- nevermind…" '_Sexual tension_,' he finished the thought to himself… "Probably also explains why demons always seem to find me…"

"Well," Raven sighed, with a touch of her will she summoned a book from the wall to her and skimmed over it for a moment. "Doesn't have too much on quarter heritage, suffice to say anything less and you're pretty much the one thing or the other." She summoned a second book. "Judging by your Fey side in your mind, changing size and or shape at will is- ah- here…"

"What?" Xander wondered why Raven shut up for a moment.

"I may have found what type of fey you descend from? I was right, it's not just size change, but shape change at will, the form is a physical change, but limited in what you can actually gain from it, like if you were to change into a humming bird, you would still only fly at fairy speeds, you could mimic a dragons breath, but it wouldn't be as potent- well- if you were pureblood anyway… I ah- think it would be possible to gain some benefits from your Fey heritage, but I'm not sure exactly how much."

"Honestly while I think I could do without the wings- the flight would be nice?"

"I could teach you that anyways, and probably will depending on how well you focus, judging by what I've seen it could take a while," she smirked- which bordered on creepy…


	8. Alpha and Harley

AN:

I got distracted from writing this for a while 'cause I got heavy into a new original series I started writing- I probably won't be putting those on Fictionpress because I want to treat it like all my main original stories, I'd like to get them into book format eventually… Though I plan on keeping said new series wholly mundane, thus it wouldn't mesh with my main original story series (hates words that are the same plural as singular… 'cause my main stories are a series of series- xD)

AN2:

Sean Malloy-1: The Fey thing is sort of a cross over- in the fact I stole Pixie from an RPG I ran, she and Klien were a pair of NPCs I ran to give the players a fighting chance when I pulled the stops- like the magical labyrinth with the random rooms that there was actually however slim, a chance they might never get out of xD in fact when the rouge broke from the rest of the party he almost did get stuck- but he had a loophole fuastian type deal...

theDon1023: There are many forms of Repression, passing out and writing it off as a dream and eventually forgetting it is just as much repression pretending it never really happened… Not to mention that's just the event itself, not the whole thing- remember it was hinted that he reacted badly to the memory at first, the whole story of which will probably come out over time, the point here was simply the repressed event itself… Second of all, your welcome to your opinion, as am I to mine, mine is that at five, he wasn't as capable of dealing with something like that as he would have been when he met Buffy, remember when he heard Buffy was a Slayer he still tried to maintain that she only _thought_ she was a slayer, more importantly, I feel most of all in the time line I'm establishing for my fic, it's _because_ of the repressed event he matured such that he could later handle the big deals like vamps and demons- though it's still an entirely different thing to find out these things exist, than it is to discover _you are_ one…

AN3:

To my other readers- thank you, please R&R emphasis on the latter...

Lastly for those who may not have picked up on the distinction yet- when he has the mask on I call him DemiHawk, when he doesn't I call him Xander.

End AN:

Joker sighed, he'd been in his '_new_' lair less than an hour and someone was knocking on the door.

"Get that," he pointed towards one the three people he'd intimidated into his services since arriving in Jump City. Said lackey scrambled to the door and looked though the peephole.

"It's some guy in a suit? Tie, briefcase, and everything?"

Joker was actually surprised. "Really? I was going to tell you to shoot them, but now I'm curious, shoot him in the leg, then let him in."

The lackey opened the door and shot the unwelcome guest in the shin. The man let out a yelp of pain, but refused to flat out scream.

"Come in," Joker said innocently to the man.

The man limped into the room with his head high, wincing with each limp on his shot leg, but otherwise calm and almost un-phased by the fact he'd been shot. He walked up to Joker's desk. "I represent a powerful law firm that's looking to establish a new branch Jump, you may have heard of us in Gotham," he set a card down in front of Joker, "A big case client like you is exactly the sort of start our company needs."

Joker looked down at the card, "Wolfram and Hart?" Joker took a moment, thinking about Wolfram and Hart's reputation. "And what would you want from me, to get caught?"

"Hardly, given your status, some minor incarceration time would be inevitable. With the proper plea bargains and assorted paperwork we could make it minimal, rather we had a different plan for you. In particular there is a new player besides us in Jump, I believe you've heard mention of him recently. Nothing major of course, aside from becoming the newest member of the Teen Titans," the lawyer smirked smugly.

"You want me to kill him?"

"Again, hardly, he plays a different strategy than the other Titans; a degree of conflict is inevitable between them. We'd like that encouraged actually. But our job specifically for you is more long term than that." He set down another card, this one with an address and time, "I know you're curious, even if you decide to turn our offer, show up here for the full pitch."

"Is that all," Joker tilted his head to one side with a mock look of having been insulted. He pulled a gun from his lap and lifted it to where the Lawyer could see it.

The lawyer shrugged as if he wasn't the slightest bit surprised, even as the Joker pulled the trigger and shot him, he just stood there, twitching a little as he bled. He winced again as his legs lost the strength to hold him up and he fell to his knees against Joker's desk. "Beware DemiHawk, unlike the other Titans, he will try to kill you," blood trickled out the lawyer's mouth as he spoke his last. The life flickered out of his eyes and he collapsed the rest of the way against Joker's desk.

"Well," the Joker mused, "Very dignified, even in death, I'll give him that much…" He stood up, "Clear out the body, I've got a pair of birds to flush out of the bushes- or in this case their tower…"

"Yes sir," it was a woman who responded quickly, grabbing the body by his unwounded leg and dragging him off with little effort. Her blonde hair flicked over her shoulders as she gave a grunt and flung him out an open window into the alley below.

Joker didn't say anything, but he was impressed. Joker smirked, looking directly at the blonde, "What was your name again?"

"Call me Harley, Sir."

"I was thinking of planning a visit to the Zoo Ms. Harley, do you have a favorite animal?"

"Hyenas," she smirked.

"Let's go pay the Hyenas a visit, see if we can make a few bird calls while we're there…"

"Yes Sir, Mr. J."

Meanwhile at Titan's Tower Xander was stumbling into the kitchen with his eyes still half shut. From the other door Beast Boy stumbled in and headed straight for the fridge. Xander with eyes still shut walked into the open door of the fridge while Beast Boy grabbed all his soy and tofu products made to mimic a normal breakfast. As Beast Boy shut the fridge Xander actually managed to pull his eyes open and got into the fridge. Cyborg stumbled into the Kitchen a few moments later.

"Eggs," Xander pointed to himself, "Waffles," he pointed to Cyborg.

"Deal," he mumbled…

The smell of the three Titans cooking eventually drew out the remaining three. Raven looked the least disheveled of them, but even her eyes were barely open, "Herbal Tea…"

All of the Titans were sitting at the dinning table barely keeping their heads up even with the food in front of them…

"That was rough last night…" Beast Boy muttered.

"Who'd have thought one man could make such a mess…" Robin sounded amazed…

Xander groaned, "You'd be amazed what 'just one man' can do," he sighed, his face fell into his eggs…

The alarm blared in the next room-

"But- food…"

"Will have to wait," Robin said, suddenly with pep as he rushed to the computer. Tapping in a few commands a map came up with a glowing red light displaying the alert. "Something's happening at the Zoo! Titans, let's go!"

"Zoo," Xander muttered as he pulled his mask over his face, waffle dangling from his mouth, "why do I have a sinking feeling…"

The Titans arrived at the Zoo and DemiHawk groaned again once he saw where the trouble was…

"Joker!" Robin called out.

Joker chuckled and looked towards the blonde, "Harley!"

"Got it boss!" She took a small sledgehammer and smashed open a metal lock, pulling at the gate four Hyena's within rushed out, each pouncing on a Titan, leaving Robin and DemiHawk unmolested.

"Robin, keep Joker occupied…" DemiHawk yelled out in a voice that left no room for doubt. However instead of moving in on Harley he pounced on the Nearest Hyena, currently struggling with Beast Boy who was in the form of another Hyena. DemiHawk dived in and rolled away with the Hyena causing the desired result, he'd been right, attacking the Alpha like that had drawn the attention of the other three pack members. He threw the Alpha off of him in time to growl in a feral tone at the other three before they could leap on him. He was challenging the Alpha for dominance of the pack.

"Dude?" Was all Beast Boy managed to say.

Raven and Starfire both moved to help DemiHawk, but Beast Boy moved in the way- "No, help Robin, this is his fight."

Cyborg had already been moving to help Robin, who was dodging swings from Joker with a larger sledgehammer than the one Harley had used. Meanwhile Harley was moving to attack Xander until Beast Boy again stepped in the way and changed into large bear to enter melee with her.

DemiHawk grunted as he hefted his bodyweight on top again and clenched his fingers, which caused a small set of claws to extend from his fingers. He slashed at the Hyena's chest drawing first blood before it bit him, a glancing blow that didn't penetrate his armor. Not actually having the hyena spirit in him was making this harder than it needed to be. If he were to just take the thing out, it might not recognize him, he had to beat it on its terms, and act like a hyena doing it. He had been relying on a mix of his demon nature that he still didn't understand yet- his memories of the hyena incident before, and minuscule traces the hyena spirit, mostly the first two to substitute for the latter.

Cyborg blasted at Joker as Beast Boy hurled Harley…

Harley crashed into the Joker's back. Robin came in and smashed his staff into Joker's skull. The rest of the Titans all turned to face DemiHawk just as he turned to face the others, the three pack members obediently behind him, the former Alpha looking roughed up but also there, its short tail and it's ears pointed down in submission. "Ok boys, back in your cage," he motioned toward the cage and they all marched back in, he shut the half-broken gate that had no lock and looked over at the dumbstruck Titans. "What?"

Beast Boy said what was on all of their minds, "How did you take over a whole pack of Hyenas? You just- _challenged_ the Alpha for dominance?"

"Beast Boy you just answered your own question, but I'll answer what you _meant_ to ask… I have a- _history_ with Hyenas, someday I may even tell you guys all about it, but right now I just want to wait for the Zookeepers to come chain this thing until it can be locked, and the police to come lock these two up before Robin and I can have another argument about his way…"

It wasn't too long before the police arrived to collect the bound Joker and Harley. About the same time the zookeeper finally arrived with a chain and lock to hold the door once DemiHawk left. Back at The Tower the Titans were getting into relax mode- salvaging what they could of this morning's breakfast.

While at the police Station, The Joker was making his one call-

"_You've reached the Temporary offices of Wolfram and Hart, how may I direct your call?_"

"This is the Joker, one of your boys made me an offer this afternoon, left me a card, I need to reschedule that meeting's location to the police headquarters, whenever it's convenient," he added that last part with a false sincerity, knowing full well he was being used by Wolfram and Hart as much as he planned to use them…

That night Xander went back to his room to crash, he'd been training with Robin most of the day, and planned to train with Raven tomorrow. But as he entered the room something seemed immediately off. Nothing he could pin point exactly at first, just a general suspicion something was amiss. Looking around he spotted it sitting in the windowsill.

"Who are you?"

She giggled in a childish-sounding way. "You've actually met me before, though this is the first time I've met you," she mused. "Might have had something to do with the fact I hadn't been born yet…"

"Serra's child," he guessed.

She stood up, shifting from her original ¼ height to matching his in what looked like the simple fluid motion of standing up. She wore a orange two piece outfit that looked more like a bikini, her hair was a duller hue of red than his grandmother's had been, but her eyes were more intense, likely from being so much younger and empowered. "Bingo, name's Merissa."

"So you're what- quarter human, three-quarter fey?"

She nodded and stepped a little closer, draping an arm over Xander's shoulders. Xander froze in the motion, "What do you want?"

"Family can't just stop by to say hello?"

Xander stepped back, removing Merissa's arm in the process. "Hello," he said formally.

She pouted, "Fine, if you want it to be all about business, then it is, I have a message from my superiors, they say you won't be arguing about Joker with Robin any more… Wolf Ram and Hart got a hold of him, if my understanding of their procedures is correct; he's being sacrificed as we speak to sanctify grounds for a new site."

"There are so many questions to that statement I dunno where to begin, but we'll start with this, what superiors?"

"Oh you met him, gave you the little trinket sharing space in your body."

"You work for the Avatar," he muttered.

"Hey, at the upper levels, the work done by Good and Evil are nearly identical, send this person there, start or stop silly little in-struggles…"

"Start or stop wars…"

"Exactly."

Xander frowned again, crossing his arms, "And I thought Wolfram and Hart was on your side."

She rolled her eyes and sighed, "So not true, Wolf Ram and Hart have their own _completely_ different agenda, Good and Evil is about creation and destruction respectively, some of each is always necessary in any complete world, Wolf Ram and Hart try to create entropy, in a sense."

Xander raised an eyebrow, clearly not understanding.

She sighed again, "Oh the lower ranks," she muttered, "suffice for you to know, Wolf Ram and Hart are moving in. My master was expecting you not to give in to Robin's good nature, but he hadn't forseen Harley- there's a mind ripe for- well- whatever…"

"She's harmless without somebody else manipulating her…"

"Exactly, she's not the issue, Wolf Ram and Hart is."

"You know, I never exactly signed a dotted line or anything."

"Which is why I'm here, you don't work for my master, but, he wants you supplied with information, he figured I'd be the least objectionable."

"Finding out my cousin works for the devil isn't exactly preferable," he muttered.

"Hey, you don't hear me complaining you work for a bunch of prancy angels and a busy body creator who's the one that let this get out of hand in the first place…"

"I do _not_ work for a bunch of prancy angels."

"And I don't work for the devil; I work for his avatar, a subtle distinction to be sure, but separate none-the-less. I work for an extension of him, not the actual entity, a fragmented portion of his will… besides, for the record, the real Lucifer isn't so bad, I met her once, when my master had to be re-empowered."

"I take it that's a rare event?"

"Yeah, like once every couple eons…" she scoffed, "Actually it happens maybe once every ten millennia, and even if it doesn't happen he's still really powerful, just not full strength…"

"How much is full strength?"

She sighed, "And now you're just pumping me, I told you what you needed to know, Wolf Ram and Hart are establishing itself in this world."

"But what is Wolfram and Hart exactly?"

"A lawyer firm," she smirked, "At least that's the side you'll see at first. They'll be very conservative at first, but once they have their powerbase established they'll start by lobbying laws in the local government, they'll seem good at the time, but it's all about power, taking it away from anyone who might stand up to them, eventually taking away power from everyone, until nobody has anything, and nobody can do anything about it… Decay and Entrophy…"

"But originally?"

"Oh, you want the whole origin speech," with a puff of smoke she turned into a reasonable facsimile of Giles in full librarian getup. "Originally they were trio of the first demons, they fought each other viciously and without mercy until all three of them realized at once they would only achieve mutual destruction if they continued. Realizing this they united and began gathering followers known now as 'The Senior Partners', they 'intervene' in the struggles of good and evil, appearing to serve evil, though they truly are self-serving, desiring nothing less than everything, leaving all the rest of the universes a worn and dried up husk." Changing back into her one quarter height true form she flew up and landed on Xander's shoulder, "they're damned cowards who decided to make their own rules, rather than play the ones that worked for eons before…"

Xander swept her off of his shoulder with the opposite hand. She gave an indignant huff and vanished without so much as a pop…

Xander plopped down in his bed with a sigh. "Great, I thought it was bad when Jinx found me cute, now I have a cousin who seems to be crushing one me," he muttered. "Nevermind that we're barely the same species, let alone alike in genetics…"

There was a knock on his door, he got up and opened it to be facing Raven, "I heard voices," she said explaining her presence.

"I ah- heh- had a visitor."

Raven gave a puzzled look, "What kind?"

"Family- from my fey side…"

"Oh," she said understanding how now.

Only now did the proper question occur to Xander, "What were you doing by my door to hear voices in the first place?"

"Huh- ah- I was wondering if you were going to see me tomorrow- you know, work on some of those meditation techniques you wanted to know…" She said quickly.

"Oh, well, yeah, I planned on it anyway, barring-… Shit I'm gonna have to tell Robin-… not until I can confirm it myself," he muttered.

"What?"

Xander sighed, "Until I can confirm it myself, nothing… I ah, I'm gonna go out and see if I can confirm it myself," he reached for his mask and slid it on.

"Maybe I can help," Raven suggested.

"I ah- Guess…"


	9. Apocalypse Must Have a Plural

DemiHawk was silent as he stalked the construction site. He marveled at the clearly magical tools they were using for the quick construction. Looking down at a red-stained magic circle in the center of the site he realized it could only be one thing. As he hissed in a breath he was overwhelmed by the smell of blood. Already machines and inhuman looking creatures were laying concrete over the ground. It was astounding watching them work, in a matter of hours they'd laid the foundation and most of the skeletal structure of the building. DemiHawk had seen enough.

"You realize they're not why you were sent here," DemiHawk barely flinched as he heard Merissa from behind his shoulder.

"I've got bigger apocali to fry huh?"

"No- just more immediate ones, don't get me wrong, we'd all praise on both sides if you struck a blow against the Wolf Ram and Hart, but don't let it distract you."

"Kinda hard not to, I'm looking for an apocalypse and you tell me all about theirs…"

"The first harbinger will come in a couple weeks; that ought to snatch your attention away from Wolf Ram and Hart."

"So then why did Wolfram and Hart come here if the apocalypse is so near?"

"Because either they didn't know- they figure it will be prevented- or they figure they'll have an easier time circumventing the birth of an embryonic world, I'm told all you have to do is-… never mind, that a story for some other time," she chuckled. DemiHawk turned to ask her to clarify and she was already gone. He scowled and started back to the Tower.

Along the way he heard the sound of glass shattering and groaned. This was Hive Five territory, which could mean only one thing. He reached for his communicator as he headed toward the noise.

He had the communicator out but hadn't used it yet as he crept toward the noise. Stopping at a corner he wriggled his wrist a couple times shuffling through an assortment of pop-out devices until he got to the one he wanted, with a flick of his wrist a mirror slid into his hand and he held it around the corner to see what was going on. He saw Mamoth coming out of the building with two heavy sacks. He took his other hand with the communicator in it and put it to his mouth and depressed the button to talk-

He heard a click and felt a sudden pressure through the wall. As he fell he saw the missing brick where the modified taser wire was now sticking out and running current through his body. The communicator in his hand fizzled and fried from the massive surge of electricity. Gizmo comes around the corner with Jinx, both wearing smirks.

"I told you I wouldn't need full power to incapacitate him."

DemiHawk grunted and started to get up…

"And I told you it wouldn't stop him long," she mused.

Gizmo hit a button and DemiHawk tensed as the current ran into his body again. DemiHawk still slowly began to get to his feet.

"What the hairballs?"

"Turn it up!"

He turned a dial and hit the button again; a stronger pulse ran through DemiHawk.

"The scum muncher's building a resistance to the current?"

"Let's see him resist this," she proceeded to blast him with her hexes…

When DemiHawk opened his eyes later he was bolted against a metal support. The room he was in was dark. He used his own body to light the room a little by only letting out some light from the patterns on his body through the material in his suit. The room was mostly empty, there seemed to be a few boxes for storage around but not much else, he couldn't even see the door from where he was.

A light flooded the room and he assumed a door opened behind him. He quickly dimmed off the light he was casting and hung his head as if he hadn't awoken yet. Billy Numerous stepped up beside Jinx in front of him. Billy's laugh was irritating, but Demihawk continued to keep silent. Jinx reached over and yanked off his mask harshly…

"So it is you, not that I got your name before either," she chuckled.

"This here's the guy that gone and shot 'ya?"

She grabbed onto his utility belt and Xander barely managed not to tense as she started riffling through its contents, but with his hands and legs bound, his options were limited, so he kept silent. A moment later she seemed to find what she was looking for, and he heard the sound of his stun blade igniting.

"Definitely."

The door opened again and Gizmo clattered in on his spider-mech feet. "So now that we got him, what'da'ya wanna do with him?"

"I don't know- first I want to know _what_ he is…"

Gizmo rapped on Xander's breast plate as he gave an examining glance of his armor. "I could take a blood sample, call a few friends to examine it, but I don't think I got any needle's that'll pierce this armor," he whistled appreciatively, "This stuff is high quality, and probably loaded with toys from boot to cape."

While their attention was on his chest and face, Xander started wiggling his wrist, shuffling through devices, when he hit the one he wanted he went limp again, where the restraint was it covered the outlet for the pop-out device.

"So how do you plan to draw blood if you can't get past his armor?"

Gizmo smirked and rustled around in a little case as his chest. Pulling out an alloy cube he jammed it between Xander's gums and wedged open his mouth. This time the shock was enough that Xander's eyes shot open-

"Wah arr ou ou'in?"

"Wedging your mouth open so I can take a blood sample from inside it," he chuckled as he did exactly that.

"'Ut 'I 'ou 'ou wan' 'ou?"

Gizmo took the sample and looked over at Jinx, "I got nothing at that one- what'd he say?"

"Wry!"

"He wants to know why."

"I got it _that_ time…" He removed the wedges from his mouth and headed out.

Jinx leaned in close and spoke into his ear, "We just want to know what exactly you are- cutie," with that she brought her lips to his and whatever muffled protest he was about to start, stopped…

Xander realized some time later she'd left, he'd somehow not even noticed she'd stopped kissing him- let alone gone away…

"What _**is**_ it with me and evil chicks," he muttered.

He sighed and felt the implants he'd had Cyborg install finally reset, all coming back online at once. He worked his jaw until it activated the internal communicator. "Titans, I ran into a bit of trouble- acknowledge…"

"_Raven here, what's the trouble?_"

"I was investigating something, and on my way back I spotted the Hive Five- I'm almost ashamed to admit but they got the jump on me, prepared specifically for me, and they captured me… I'm in one of their bases but I couldn't tell you where."

"_You can't escape?_"

"They got my wrist ejector covered by dumb luck- unless Gizmo spotted it and did it on purpose- which I suppose is possible- look- could you get the others and hurry- Gizmo's up to something with a sample of blood he took from me- whatever it is I'd rather they not… you know… and I'm not actually certain how long ago he left…"

"_Gotcha_," He could hear the suppressed laughter in her voice but chose to ignore it.

DemiHawk closed the link and set his head back against the metal plate and prepared to wait, "Less than a month as a superhero and I'm already playing Dawn," he chuckled.


	10. Needs Better Security

Raven came up from the shadows and smirked at DemiHawk. "So, funny man, which joke would be best in this situation?"

"Dunno, all I can think of are inside jokes at the moment. All I'd need is for Jinx to turn out to be a demon and this could be a replay of several of my dates back in SunnyDale… Then again- now that you're here," he chuckled.

Raven frowned.

"What, you are basically half demon, didn't say all the demons I dated were evil, I almost married one, and she was just fine- if not a little crazy."

Raven's eyes flashed black and the restraints holding DemiHawk broke off. "Robin and Cyborg are trying to track down Gizmo as we speak."

With his hands free DemiHawk had a hand in his mouth, "I 'hink 'at 'erk's 'edge sh'ped a toof…" He felt around for a moment, "Damn, and I already had fillings in that one," he sighed.

"Need a hand out," Raven had a hand out.

"Thanks but I feel like taking the destructive way out," he mused. As he balled up his fist and struck the wall he was a little surprised at how easily it came down. "I seem to be getting even stronger, I might be able to survive a pissed off slayer now," he chuckled as he walked through the giant hole in the wall.

"You tend to rate things against slayers, or occasionally to witches."

"Yeah," he brushed off a stray chunk of the wall he'd just smashed in. "Your point? What can I say, they left an impression on me."

Raven rolled her eyes. The communicator beeped.

"DemiHawk," he awnsered.

"_Gizmo got away, but we got the sample from him…_"

"Thanks Robin, meet ya' back at the tower."

"_You can tell me what you were investigating in the first place then,_" Robin added.

"Deal, but you're not gonna like what I found."

"_Understood, Robin out._"

At the tower Xander explained that he saw the sight where they murdered Joker and we constructing the new Wolfram and Hart offices.

"And you were told they're not the bigger threat by _who_ again?"

"A cousin I just met for the first time," he admitted, "who also admitted to me she's with what you would call the bad guys."

"You don't?"

"Gotta say, all the biblical prejudice aside, gotta respect the guy, he sticks by his principles no matter what."

"His pride-"

"That's one side of it, sure, Lucifer _is_ an arrogant bastard, he also knows the rules, he follows them even more closely than God- and God makes the rules. Sure, he's going to try and cloud every issue, but he's not going to flat lie."

"He's _The_ Deceiver."

"And he deceives with misdirection, not lies."

"No rule against lying."

"But to properly deceive me he needs my trust, he's not going to get that by lying, he _wants_ my trust."

"To _what_ end!"

"That I don't know yet, but I do agree he must want more than this apocalypse he told me about averted."

"Well, it's late. Goodnight everyone," Robin said, though he clearly wanted to press the issue further.

"What'ja do with Gizmo's sample," Beast Boy butted in. Robin tensed…

"He kept it," Xander mused. "He wants to know what I am as badly as Jinx and Gizmo do…"

"Robin!" Starfire scolded.

"No Kory it's fine," Xander smirked, "Just lemme know what'cha find eh?"

Xander stretched and yawned as he headed for his room.

"So you trust Robin but not Jinx," Raven commented as she came up behind him.

"I trust Robin to do what he thinks is right, he's just like Batman, trying to impose a little order in a disorderly world. Sometimes he has to step outside the established order to do what it wants to but can't." He turned and faced her, "Goodnight Raven," he closed the door between them and sighed…

"I assume you've noticed she's crushing on you."

Xander had been expecting some voice to pester him again- however he was expecting his cousin again. He quickly ejected his gun into his hand and pointed it behind him, but as he turned to face the voice he realized his gun was passing through them. "Joker."

"In the ectoplasm," he smirked.

He lowered his gun, slowly returning it to its quick-eject slot. "What do you want?"

"You're cousin filled me in on the scoop. You handle your apocalypse; I've got a personal stake in the other…"

"You're not exactly known for following the rules…"

"Well duh, but these guys are all about making their own rules, who better to fuck'em sideways," he held out his arms dramatically.

"Guess I can't argue that, though the lack of corporeality makes it a bit difficult."

"Yeah, and not that I expect you to gimme a hand or nothin', but rather if you could just look the other way?"

"You make a move that isn't directed against Wolfram and Hart, I'll take you down, and I'll exercise your spirit, that simple. But if I see you on the street , I'll assume you're just a figment of my overactive imagination."

"I'd shake on it, but," he held up his hands again, this time more innocently.

"Just stay out of my circles, and it won't even matter…"

"You want I should go back to Gotham, take'em out there?"

"Might be a start, Batman, like Robin, isn't going to kill you, barring extravagant circumstances," he amended quickly.

"Maybe later, but the Jump branch is new, more vulnerable- more-… malleable…"

Xander quirked an eyebrow, "No…"

"Probably not, they're… devoted… Makes it a little harder, not impossible."

"Did they tell you the origin, my cousin told me they were basically a trio of ancient demons who decided rather than destroy each other, they'd decay the universe… entropy… not you're preferred brand of chaos."

"Meh, figures, all that power and money, wasted on order… even an evil one…"

"Are we done?"

"What, we aren't having a moment here bird-demon?"

"Very much no."

Joker laughed, then vanished…

"I know you're still here- invisible isn't gone."

The laughing resumed, then slowly faded again.

"Great," he muttered, "now I get to figure out how to ward this place from ghosts."


End file.
